Pawns | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

More Consequences

I let out a feeble, chocked sob and sunk to the ground as well. Draco had his hands on my shoulders and tried desperately to comfort me.

But I was beyond help.

I couldn't breathe. My chest was making the movements but no air was entering. I gripped at my clothes, trying to stretch them out at the neckline, trying but failing to breathe.

I tried to push Draco off of me, trying to give myself space but he was hesitant to back away.

My eyes wouldn't even blink, as if they were forcing me to stare at Fred.

I was in pure agony. I kicked at the rubble surrounding me and started to cough, my blood staining the stone beneath me from my wounded leg.

I still couldn't breathe, and I couldn't understand the situation.

Fred was dead.

And it was our fault.

Percy continued to shake his brother, sobbing over his body.

I needed to throw up but I couldn't. I gasped for air that still wasn't coming. Ron was right there too, Harry and Hermione beside him, tears running down all their faces.

Without noticing the pain, I'd been ripping my hair out while grasping at my shirt, and Draco knelt beside me, urgently trying to get me to calm down. But I couldn't possibly. The sounds of explosions and curses hadn't yet stopped. But I felt like the world had ended and didn't give my surroundings a single glance.

Harry yelled for everyone to get down but I couldn't see what anyone else was doing. I didn't take my gaze away from Fred. My best friend's brother. My family.

Harry was pulling at Percy now, trying to get him to move to safety. But Percy was shielding his brother's body, unwilling to move.

"You can't do anything for him!" I heard Harry yell but Percy didn't let go. Fred was lifelessly being dragged by his brother who was still clutching on to him as Harry tired to pull him away.

Draco's body suddenly appeared in front of me, trying to break my gaze away from the horrific scene. With a heave, I managed to take in a single breath of air, but it felt like I was choking. I could scarily see as Harry and the others hoisted up Fred's body and tried to move it out of the way of the battle.

I couldn't even hear what Draco was saying despite him being inches from my face, bellowing. My mind was not here with him. I wasn't present. I was in some altered state of reality.

I couldn't really hear anything. I couldn't really see anything. Nothing would hurt me because nothing was real. How could anything be real? How could Fred be dead?

It took everything in Draco to bring me back to Earth. And when he finally did, all the sounds of the battle rushed back and I was deafened by the sounds of screams and explosions I'd blocked out.

"We need to leave!" he shouted into my face, standing up and trying to get me up too.

I'd forgotten my leg was horribly injured, and when I stood, I placed all my weight right on it, causing me to collapse again. He put my arm over his neck and put his arm at the small of my back, lifting me once more.

"Draco," I moaned, as we moved across the corridor. "It's our fault. It's our fault," I mumbled, feeling dirty tears drip into my mouth as I spoke.

"No, Arabella, it's not. It's not. Okay?" he said, struggling to get us out of the way of the shooting spells.

We hobbled over the bricks from which we had came and I continued to sob, confessing and repeating over and over again that it was our fault. That it was my fault.